Liviya graduated with honors from George Washington University in May 2017 with a degree in international affairs, concentrating on Africa and global public health. Her time volunteering in Ghana and Morocco and studying at the University of Cape Town in South Africa motivated and cemented her passion for African affairs. Currently, she is a project assistant at the Atlantic Council’s Africa Center in Washington, DC where she has written case studies for a report on the state of primary education in Africa and researched Africa-Israel engagement and food insecurity in Nigeria. She also manages the Africa Center’s campaign and contacts database, tracks media metrics, and creates monthly newsletters that overview that Center’s events, publications, and media presence. Previously, she was an intern at the Jerusalem African Community Center, an NGO focused on integrating African refugees and asylum seekers in Jerusalem. While working there, she developed their English marketing materials, wrote grant materials and streamlined the application process, created blog pieces, and updated their website to better communicate their work. Liviya is a foodie at heart and is so excited to make her new home in Nairobi, learn some Swahili, and explore the city’s food scene.

Alumni Update:

Laura is currently a 2nd year veterinary student at UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, located in Davis, CA. Last summer, she was able to return to Mpala to conduct research on camel milk quality and production. It was wonderful to return and catch up with many friends from her year in Mpala.

Fellow Bio:

Laura (Middlebury ‘11) is a Biology major from Hinesburg, VT. While at Middlebury she was involved in theatre as a stage manager and set builder. She was also active in the Mountain Club, Quidditch Club, and is an international Quidditch champion. Laura spent six months in South Africa’s Kruger National Park studying abroad with the Organization for Tropical Studies. She is passionate about wildlife and conservation biology. Laura is excited to play soccer, learn Swahili, and once again be surrounded by some of her favorite wildlife while she is in Kenya this year.

Alumni Update:

Lauren is beginning her second year of law school at Columbia Law School. Last summer, she interned at the Legal Resource Centre in Cape Town for her legal internship. In the upcoming school year, she hopes to take Africa-related coursework and will be participating in the Columbia Human Rights Clinic.

Fellow Bio:

Lauren grew up in Sacramento, California.  Following her high school graduation, she spent 10 months in Zhongli, Taiwan as a Rotary Youth Exchange student.  In 2017, she graduated from Wesleyan University with a B.A. in Biology and a certificate in Writing.  During her undergraduate career, Lauren focused primarily on ecological research, working for two year in the Singer Laboratory at Wesleyan, participating in a National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates, and interning at the California Academy of Sciences.  She studied abroad in South Africa, where she conducted fieldwork in Kruger National Park and gained a better understanding of conservation policies in practice.  This experience opened Lauren’s interest in the wider implications of conservation policies and inspired her most recent internship at the district office of U.S. Congresswoman Doris Matsui.  Lauren is also passionate about gender equality, and has interned at Women’s Empowerment, a Sacramento non-profit that aids homeless and near-homeless women obtain employment.  Lauren is excited to be promoting women in science as part of the AWARD team, and can’t wait to explore Nairobi and beyond.  

Kristen is from Pembroke, MA and studied Environmental and Ecological Science and International Studies (Concentration in the Middle East) at Elon University. She enjoys being outside and environmental education. Kristen interned with a local watershed association, an environmental education nonprofit, and the landscaping department at Elon University. She also enjoys leading outdoor trips, was a facilitator at a low-ropes challenge course, and is an active member of a service fraternity. Last year, Kristen studied abroad in Kenya and Tanzania with the School for Field Studies. She is extremely excited to return to Kenya and be able to grow her knowledge of sustainable practices, nonprofits, the local culture and Swahili.

A Southern California native, Khadija Hassanali graduated from Claremont McKenna College with a B.A. in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics. As an undergraduate, Khadija returned to her mother’s home country of Tanzania to work with the Asante Africa Foundation, an NGO that administers programs to increase the accessibility and quality of education in East Africa. During her sophomore and senior year, she competed in the Hult Prize Competition, in which she developed social enterprise solutions to tackle the issues of Early Childhood Education and the Refugee Crisis. Inspired by the intersection of business, technology, and social innovation, Khadija interned with Tectonica Studios, a start-up in Buenos Aires, Argentina that creates websites for political campaigns and NGOs. The fall of her junior year, Khadija studied in Granada, Spain, where she honed her Spanish language skills and studied the history of the Andalucia. Most recently, she interned with Deloitte Consulting, where she worked with a major healthcare client in the Bay Area. Khadija is looking forward to developing her interests in technology innovation as a Data Analyst and Project Manager at mSurvey in Kenya. Climbing shoes packed, she is eager to scramble around Nairobi and learn about the city her parents immigrated from.

Kelly earned her BA in Global Studies and Anthropology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, graduating in 2013. As an undergraduate student, Kelly pursued her interests in public health and international development both inside and outside of the classroom. As Executive Co-Chair of the student-run community development organization Nourish-UNC during her senior year, Kelly led a team of over 75 executive board and committee members. Together, they invested $22,977—generated through social entrepreneurship ventures—in three development projects carried out in partnership with community-based organizations in Bolivia, Jordan, and Nepal. During her undergraduate summers, Kelly bolstered her practical experience by volunteering as an educator with World Camp in Malawi, co-leading a development project with the JUVILUS Foundation in Ecuador, and collecting data for a public health study with Nemours in Delaware. Kelly also performed hospital-based public health research while studying in Chile in 2011. Since graduating, she has been working in domestic health policy analysis and advocacy with the National Coalition on Health Care in Washington, DC. Kelly originally hails from Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, and is humbled by the opportunity to learn from and contribute to Lwala Community Alliance’s amazing work in rural western Kenya.

Alumni Update:

Kate is currently working with the Clinton Health Access Initiative on their Global Vaccines Delivery team, based in Yaounde, Cameroon.

Fellow Bio:

Kate hails from Chicago and graduated from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service in 2013, majoring in African Regional Studies with a minor in Women’s and Gender Studies. During her time at Georgetown, Kate studied in Paris, Rwanda, and most recently Ghana, where she spent a semester at the University of Ghana in Legon. She coupled these experiences with work at DC-based development organizations like the Rwandan Embassy, the Millennium Challenge Corporation, and the Global Environment and Technology Foundation. After graduation, Kate returned to Chicago and began working at the South African Consulate on business and trade development projects. Kate is excited to join the Village Enterprise team in Kenya and Uganda and leave Chicago’s cold weather behind.  She is eager to try new East African dishes and learn how to speak Swahili, while hopefully playing as much soccer as possible and making new friends in the process.

Katharine graduated from Claremont McKenna College with a B.A. in Economics. She has always been fascinated by learning about international development. After growing up in Southeast Asia, Australia, and on both the East and West coasts of the U.S., Katharine considers herself a culturally inquisitive wanderer who is beyond thrilled to be returning to the equator. Fully embracing her “liberal arts education,” Katharine confused the masses with a senior honors Economics thesis analyzing education reform in sub-Saharan Africa. As an undergraduate, Katharine was fortunate to gain first-hand experience in social entrepreneurship and microfinance development in East Africa by pioneering a goat-selling enterprise in rural Rwanda and evaluating a microfinance organization in northern Tanzania. She also worked in Washington, D.C., exploring and promoting the role of tertiary education within the context of sub-Saharan Africa. A cello enthusiast and trivia nerd, she is eager to explore Nanyuki, Kenya, as a Monitoring and Evaluation Fellow for The BOMA Project, and to master her Swahili!

Alumni Update:

Kara is pursuing her master’s degree at Marquette University through the Trinity Fellows Program. She works at Next Door Foundation on advancing emergent literacy and language development through overseeing service-learning students and an AmeriCorps program.

Fellow Bio:

Kara graduated with an Honors B.A. in Environmental Geography, a minor in French Studies, and certificates in Sustainability and Global Health. While at UNI, Kara worked as an Office of Sustainability program assistant spreading awareness on environmental issues, a STEM ambassador promoting STEM careers to K-12 students, and a World Geography teaching assistant mentoring first-year students in academic skills. Her Midwestern agricultural roots led her to guide a team to create an on-campus student vegetable garden and to complete a 100-day real food challenge. Kara sees the world as her classroom and enjoys building meaningful relationships in each place that her travels bring her. Her international experiences are diverse and include teaching English in China, facilitating a design team in Kenya, researching hand washing in South Africa, and studying business culture in Nicaragua. Through these experiences, Kara has developed a passion for combining the environment, education, people, and technology in international development practices. Kara enjoys giving back to communities, spending time with her friends and family, and doing many outdoor activities, such as backpacking, canoeing, and skiing. At Nyumbani Village, she looks forward to sharing cultural experiences with her new colleagues and learning more about global health and sustainability.